Project lacks federal funding

A public service center honoring the late Rep. John Murtha at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown campus will be smaller than planned because federal funding for the project hasn't materialized.

Pitt spokesman Ken Service tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that The John P. Murtha Center for Public Service will now be located inside an 8,000-square-foot addition to Krebs Hall, which houses offices and classrooms on the campus about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh. The initial plan was for a center four times as large in a separate building.

Murtha, who died in February 2010, was a graduate of the campus. The center is expected to open by October 2015.

Service says Pitt will provide matching funds for the project along with money raised by the Murtha Foundation, which was established after the powerful Democrat congressman's death.